LWA Part 14
So who's excited about Dinobots being in the new movie? This Dino!
In celebration, let's have another chapter of LWA, now with 50% moar Grimlock.
Title: Living With Autobots, Part 14
Rating: PG13
Characters: Sideswipe, Sunstreaker, Ratchet, Wheeljack, Silverbolt, others
Summary: How many times does Ratchet need to repeat it? No Seeker-killing drones in the same room as Seekers!
Author's Notes: As always, this can be found on ff.net.
Drone-watching was every bit as exciting as Sideswipe had anticipated it would be. For two cycles now, the thing had stalked around on all fours, carefully investigating the base and its hallways and doorways, though it was oddly disinterested in the Autobots themselves. And Sideswipe was stuck following it. He stayed a few paces behind, waiting, just waiting for it to do something interesting. Sunstreaker was even less enthusiastic about the situation and trailed further behind. He tried to slip away every time he got the chance, but it always seemed like Ironhide or Optimus was right there to send him back to his duties.
The red twin still could not figure out why the drone needed their company to begin with. It was just a drone. A very big war drone, sure. Big and boring. A basic companion drone would respond to someone following it. This thing seemed to be pointedly ignoring Sideswipe. And Sideswipe hated being ignored.
He growled to himself. "What the frag is this thing good for? Optimus won't send it to fight 'Cons yet, it's no good for a guard drone, we can't even spar with it in the training rooms. Waste of time." He flexed his claws. "Should just put this thing back in its bay."
The drone actually glanced back at Sideswipe then, only briefly. Then it suddenly folded its legs beneath itself, settling down in the middle of the hallway and assuming a watch pose. Its optics focused on some distant, nonexistant point.
"You've got to be fragging joking." Sideswipe walked up to the drone's shoulder; the beast didn't react. He pondered for a moment that perhaps the drone was mocking him, as if saying 'You want a guard drone? I will be a guard drone right now.' But it was just a war drone. War drones did not have the mental capacity to mock.
Sunstreaker seemed to pick up on that line of thought. "Wheeljack made it," he commented. "You thought it'd work correctly?"
"I would have hoped it wouldn't sit down in the middle of the damn hallway!" Sideswipe gave it a solid kick in its shoulder, not noticing that his talons didn't leave the slightest mark in the beast's dark armor. "Why'd we get stuck with this piece of slag? It's Wheeljack's drone, he should be watching it!" A few mechs carefully walked past them, scooting as closely against the wall as they could, trying to avoid notice by the gladiator who was swearing at the giant drone and giving it another useless kick.
Sunstreaker was leaning back against the wall, arms crossed over his chest. "Just wait until Wheeljack hears you've been abusing his pet."
His brother growled again. "I'd rather deal with him than sit around doing nothing with a war drone that won't fight!" Sideswipe looked up from his latest tired to find the drone looking him straight-on, red optics boring into him. The mech huffed. "Finally, it knows I exist."
The drone huffed back, sending a blast of superheated air from its nasal vents that hit Sideswipe like a wall of fire. Sideswipe lifted his arms to shield his face from the heat, and the drone's head waved on its long neck as it tracked his motions.
"Slagging thing just tried to melt my face off!" The gladiator glared at the expressionless face before him. The drone stared back. Before he even realized what he was doing, Sideswipe had slammed his fist into the drone's face, the sharp ring of metal on metal echoing down the hallway.
"Did you really just do that?" Sunstreaker said.
Sideswipe's fist was still clenched. "How else will it learn?" he snarled.
The drone tilted its head downward slightly, not in pain or fear, but the way a hunting cyberhawk would as it stalked its prey.
"Don't break it," the gold mech taunted his brother.
Any thoughts of having to face an angry engineer were far from Sideswipe's mind as he swung at the beast's head again. Sparks flew as his fist connected with the drone's long muzzle. The drone itself remained unfazed by the assault. Only by the third strike did it seem to think that perhaps it should do something about the situation.
The creature stood, turning to face Sideswipe.
Sideswipe smiled, that dark smile that brought such fear to others. His primal programming was pawing at the edges of his mind, begging to be unleashed. Time to make his day a little more interesting.
-For Primus' sake. So bored you're picking fights with drones now?-
-Slag off.-
-In the hallway.-
-I said slag off!- Sideswipe lunged at the drone. He wasn't going to hurt it. Not really. Nothing that Wheeljack or Ratchet couldn't fix.
He was not expecting the drone to raise one of its massive, clawed forepaws and easily catch him. His vision spun as the creature drove him backwards, slamming him into the wall, pinning him tightly against it. When he could see again, that dark, twisted face was close to his, and he could almost feel the drone's thoughts echoing in his mind. Won't hurt it. Not really.
He heard Sunstreaker running for them. Without looking away, the drone lashed its tail at the gold twin, striking his legs. Sunstreaker was effortlessly knocked aside.
Again, those odds thoughts in Sideswipe's mind, as if the drone was giving a firm Slag off! to Sunstreaker.
Sideswipe felt the fire-heat again, so hot that it warped the air around the drone's muzzle. 'Wheeljack gave this thing a fragging flamethrower,' was all he had time to think before the world suddenly stood still.
A processor-numbing Seeker shriek pierced the base, the walls doing little to stop it. Sunstreaker staggered as he tried to rise from the floor. Sideswipe could only shudder under the drone's strong claws.
The drone's muzzle went cold as its optics pinned. Then it quickly swung its body around to face the source of the noise, unceremoniously dropping Sideswipe. The beast arched its neck, spines splaying out, opened its long-toothed jaws wide, and replied with its own chilling and mind-scrambling roar.
It was unlike anything Sideswipe had ever heard, and he could only curled up on the floor and attempt to cover his audials. But the sound blasted straight through him, piercing his bosy with what he was sure was the noise of Unicron's own Pit-spawn.
He felt someone kick him. "Get up!" Sunstreaker snarled.
Sideswipe managed to open his optics to an oddly drone-free hallway. "What...?"
Sunstreaker was already running down the hallway. Pulling himself to his feet, still shaken by the drone's roar, Sideswipe followed as quickly as he could.
"Happy now?" Sunstreaker didn't even look back at him.
"I had nothing to do with that!"
"Like hell you--whoa!" The rounded a corner to find the drone in front of the medbay, tearing at the doors, snarling and shrieking.
-I've subdued the Seeker!- came Ratchet's voice from the nearby comm panels. -Get that thing away from the medbay!-
The drone's claws had punched through the doors, and it was working on forcing its muzzle into the hole.
Sideswipe took a running leap at the beast, only to be knocked aside by a well-aimed kick from its hind leg, a much harder blow than what it had used to keep Sunstreaker away earlier. The red mech hit the floor quite a ways down the hall, wincing from the new deep puncture wounds he now sported across his chest.
Sunstreaker activated the cannon on his arm and landed a well-aimed shot on the drone's neck. The drone whirled around with astounding speed, its long neck crossing the distance to the gladiator, allowing it to clamp its toothy jaws around the cannon. It swung its head, dragging Sunstreaker along. The mech hooked the claws of his free hand in the drone's optical socket as he kicked at the spiny-armored neck.
The red twin was up again, running for the beast. He managed to evade the claws that swiped at him and joined his brother in trying to pry the iron jaws from his arm.
He was sent staggering aside by a particularly hard punch to the side of his head.
"Stop!"
My brother...! His mind now locked into freeing his brother, Sideswipe lunged again, only to be repelled once more in the same violent fashion.
"Stop!"
Sideswipe heard other mechs hurrying to their position, and he glanced back briefly to see who he had for reinforcements. Ironhide, of course, cannons ready. Jazz and Cliffjumper, and Optimus behind them. More were arriving, but he could waste no more time watching them. He powered up the guns in his forearms.
His brother was still fruitlessly struggling to free himself. But there, grabbing the giant drone by its head, was Wheeljack. The engineer was frantically trying to stop Sunstreaker from harming his creation, while trying to stop said creation from harming Sunstreaker further.
He had a shot. Sideswipe raised his arms and fired.
The bolts struck the drone just as it was raising its neck, exposing a single tiny opening in its armor. The drone grunted at the impact, shuddering, and a tiny trickle of blue energon crept out from beneath its armor.
Then Wheeljack was looking at him. No, not looking. Glaring. That same feral glare Sunstreaker got when caught in the throes of his basic programming. It was so strange seeing that on another mech, even if he should have expected--
He didn't even notice the engineer activate one of his own guns.
The shot hit Sideswipe square in his chest. The shock of it sent him backwards into the gathered crowd. He felt himself collide with someone, and they both fell to the floor. Sideswipe could almost hear his armor sizzling; he could not tell if more than the armor had been damaged, but he was alive, and that was all that mattered. He could still hear the drone's growling and Sunstreaker's howls of rage, and...
"Grimlock! Let him go!"
Sideswipe propped himself up just in time to see the drone open its jaws and drop Sunstreaker. The gold gladiator's left arm was mangled, freely dripping energon and lubricants onto the floor. Sideswipe could feel his brother's rage and pain in his own spark, and he struggled to his feet, ready to fight. Sunstreaker himself only took a few steps back from the beast as Wheeljack continued speaking to it. The drone was sitting now, focused on the white mech. Then it suddenly, mechanically stood, paced to Wheeljack's lab down the hallway, and disappeared into it.
Wheeljack was on Sunstreaker in a second. "What did you do to him?" he shouted. Sunstreaker responded by using his good arm to punch the engineer in the face. Sideswipe was by his brother's side as Wheeljack came back at them, resonators glowing ruby despite him not speaking. Sideswipe immediately aimed his still-hot guns at the white mech.
Prowl suddenly appeared between them, arms held out as if he alone could keep the three larger mechs apart; Sideswipe very nearly shot the lieutenant by accident.
The small distraction was enough for Inferno to get between Prowl and the Twins, a much more solid presence they could not ignore. Ironhide was able to grab Wheeljack and quite literally knock some sense back into him.
When they had been sufficiently calmed, Prowl gave each of them an icy glare. "My office. Now."
*****
The five Seekers had been huddled on the highest roof of the base for nearly a cycle now. The frozen Seeker's unexpected scream, followed by the roar of the genocide drone, had sent the entire wing scrambling for safety. Even Silverbolt, terrified of heights as he was, had made for the highest point he could find without hesitation.
Even if that highest point was a platform of monitoring equipment that was not intended to bear the weight of five Seekers. Optimus Prime's security officer had screamed quite a bit over his comm about his crushed and now useless equipment. Silverbolt had eventually shut his comm off.
It had been eerily silent on the base ever since, but the Seekers did not move. Fireflight was still shaking with fear, and his wingmates, themselves still overcome with fear, were little able to comfort him. And now that Silverbolt had his wits about him once more, he could see that they were indeed rather high up, and it was a long way down.
A very long way down, and what waited for them down there? Judging by how loud that scream had been, either the new Seeker had Thundercracker's abilities, or was a big Seeker indeed. Bigger than Silverbolt himself.
And that drone? It had definitely reacted to that Seeker. Just as it was meant to.
Perhaps that was why the new Seeker had remained so silent?
Silverbolt shivered. His wingmates, feeling the shaking, began to whine and whimper once more. "Quiet," he said to them. "We're fine up here."
"So exposed..." Air Raid murmured.
-Silverbolt?-
The wing leader tilted his head at the sudden comm. -Optimus Prime?-
-You can bring your wing down.-
Silverbolt glanced at his team, still huddled as close as they could get to one another on the platform. -There's a giant Seeker and a giant Seeker-killing drone down there. I don't think so.-
There was a brief pause from the Prime, as if he was speaking with someone in his presence. -The Seeker is restrained, and the drone is currently offline.-
-We've heard similar empty assurances from Decepticons before. Forgive me for not trusting your word.-
He could almost hear Optimus sigh. -Your wing will not be harmed. And we need to repair the platform you're on.-
Silverbolt looked at the crushed panels beneath his feet.
-Are you familiar with Starscream?-
The Seeker furrowed his brow ridges at the odd question. -Not personally.- Starscream's wingmates, on the other hand...
Again, silence as Optimus spoke to someone. -Ratchet thinks having another Seeker present the next time our guest wakes would help avoid a repeat of this situation.-
-Doubtful.- If this new Seeker was somehow connected to Starscream, it would have to get used to disappointment while in Autobot hands.
Skydive was looking curiously at him. "What's going on?"
"The Prime wants me to talk with the giant Seeker," Silverbolt answered. Skydive frowned slightly.
"We are a giant-er Seeker!" Slingshot said, not for the first time.
"Drone is still there," Air Raid put in.
"We'll stomp it!" Slingshot flared is wing panels and tapped his foot on the broken platform for effect. The platform creaked ominously.
"Not indoors," Fireflight suddenly said. He looked thoughtful; whether his statement was in reference to the current conversation or whatever else was going on in his mind, Silverbolt couldn't tell.
"Stomp! Stomp!"
Air Raid was starting to bob his head along with Slingshot's chanting. Skydive was admirably trying to ignore the both of them.
Silverbolt growled softly to himself. -Fine,- he commed to Optimus. -What could possibly be worse than what happened last time?-
*****
It had been sheer luck that Ratchet had been able to drag himself close enough to the Seeker to take him offline while still suffering the effects of such a close-range and loud Seeker shriek. He remembered being only vaguely aware that the drone was breaking into the medbay, and maybe he said something through the comm panel too? Then he had just sat on the floor of the medbay for a good quarter-cycle before he had been clear-minded enough to respond to First Aid, who had been doing his best to rouse the stunned CMO.
And now there was still the matter of what to do with a giant offline Seeker.
This Seeker had clearly been close to Starscream. This was intelligence they could not afford to miss. They could directly connect to his processor, yes, but with their current equipment they were only able to see coding, not direct memories. And there was nobody on base who was talented at reading such coding anyway; it had been a great deal of luck that Ratchet had been able to patch up as much of Red Alert's mind as he had.
So they must simply wake him up. And just perhaps, having another Seeker nearby this time would comfort this newcomer enough to not scream again.
Silverbolt was clearly not convinced by the idea, but he nonetheless stood in the medbay, on the other side of the Seeker from Ratchet, far enough away that he would hopefully not offend the Seeker's sense of personal space.
Before he could convince himself otherwise, Ratchet reached around the back of the Seeker's large helm, and woke him.
The blue optics flickered online, then shifted to look at Ratchet. The Seeker's face crinkled into an expression of disgust, sharp teeth bared. "What are you doing, you slag-bastard? Where is Starscream? Let me up!"
"If you don't scream again, we may be able to negotiate something," Ratchet said calmly.
The Seeker hissed and snarled. "You have me trapped. I see little reason to play nice!" He pulled against the restraints. "Slagging ground-pounders think you can keep me down? I will shriek until you processors can't unscramble any more!"
"I have no problem taking away your voice," the CMO said.
"You wouldn't!" The Seeker rumbled deep in his chest.
"If it would allow us to talk, I would! We only wish to speak--"
"I do not wish to speak! Let me go!" This was followed by more hissing and growling.
An echoing growl was heard from the lab next door, then several loud thumps as a large drone attempted to break through the wall separating the rooms.
Silverbolt flinched with each thump. He was between that wall and the giant Seeker.
"Primus, just shut up!" Ratchet said. "You're upsetting the drone again."
"I fear no drone!" The Seeker snarled, tugging harder at the bindings so that the table creaked. "And I will have vengeance on you for this insult to my freedom!"
Ratchet sighed, exasperated. He was about to comm Optimus, tell him exactly how useful this endeavour was proving, when the medbay doors, still bearing the damage from the drone, opened as far as they could. Wheeljack came storming in.
The engineer was looking straight at Ratchet. "I thought you said you wouldn't--"
The Seeker took notice of him and growled. "Sending in one of those to deal with Seeker prisoners now?" he hissed. "This is what the great Prime deems acceptable?"
Wheeljack blinked, taken aback by the Seeker's reaction. Then his wing-blades swiveled up stiffly. "'One of those'?" he snarled as he stalked closer.
"Wheeljack," Ratchet tried to caution.
"What the frag do you mean, 'one of those'?"
"Wheeljack!" The engineer was close, too close to the Seeker...
The Seeker's wing panels shifted slightly beneath him, their movement restricted by the table. "They still use you 4-Betas for Seeker-baiting, huh? Going to take me apart while I can't fight back?"
Ratchet could almost feel the waves of cold rage that rolled off of Wheeljack. "You want a 4-Beta Seeker-baiting?" The engineer's voice was low, reminding the medic far too much of Sunstreaker. "I will give you a fragging Seeker-baiting."
'Only one way to get this back under control.' The CMO reached back, grabbing the nearest tool on the table beside him, and raised his arm to chuck it at Wheeljack's head.
There was an ominous snap. Ratchet only had a brief moment to register that the binding had broken from the Seeker's nearest hand. Then the Seeker used that hand to smack the medic away. Ratchet was knocked onto his back; he got to his feet in time to see the Seeker break one of his feet free and swing it around. Silverbolt jumped back slightly, though he was much too far away for those massive foot-claws to reach him.
Ratchet was powerless to stop the Seeker as the binding holding his other hand shattered, allowing him to reach out and pin Wheeljack against the wall. His long claws pierced the mech's torso right through to the wall, effectively holding him in place.
The CMO threw the tool he held at the Seeker. It bounced off his thick helm; the Seeker didn't seem to notice it.
A loud stomping noise came from the hallway. The medbay doors ground open again to reveal the drone, smoke rising from its mouth. It quickly scanned the scene before it, red optics resting briefly on Silverbolt before moving to Ratchet, then to Wheeljack and the giant Seeker, who was working on freeing his other foot. The drone hesitated. Ratchet could almost see the drone's thoughts as it tried to puzzle out how to handle the situation.
He found himself hoping it would figure it out soon. There was not much Ratchet himself could do now. Silverbolt was frozen with fear, some help he was. Wheeljack was gasping in pain; Ratchet could hear his armor creak under the pressure of the giant Seeker's hand.
The drone snarled, raising its spines. The Seeker looked at it, but was not alarmed. "Anyone makes a move and I kill him." Now completely free, the Seeker stood, slightly flexing the claws that held Wheeljack. The engineer choked.
"Grimlock..." the white mech gasped. Ratchet winced at the sound.
"Where is Starscream?" the giant Seeker demanded.
"With the Decepticons," Ratchet answered quickly.
"Where?"
"I don't know, at their base?" The medic was busy scanning Wheeljack. One of the Seeker's claws had pierced a major energon line, and the only thing keeping the energon in was the claw itself. If the Seeker removed his claw, the mech would bleed out quickly indeed, and if the Seeker kept smacking Ratchet away as he had... He send out an emergency signal on his comm line. If he could just keep the Seeker occupied for a breem more, they could get him under control again, and he might have a chance to get to Wheeljack before more damage was done.
The drone was fuming, looking from the giant Seeker to Wheeljack and back again. Heat was seeping out from under its neck armor now, as it continued to consider its options.
"Thundercracker and Skywarp were at the space bridge the last time I saw them," Silverbolt said softly.
Ratchet shot him a dark look. 'Damn you, Seeker. Lead him right to what he wants, why don't you?'
The giant Seeker turned his head to look at Silverbolt, as if noticing him for the first time. "Our wingmates made it back?" he said, more to himself than Silverbolt.
The medic's energon seemed to run cold. 'Oh Primus. He's Starscream's wingmate?' There was good intelligence to be had here indeed. This was the best chance for bargaining they might ever get.
Or Starscream might not be in the mood for bargaining, and just flat-out destroy them in revenge.
Unless the giant Seeker escaped first. He suddenly released his hold on Wheeljack. The engineer fell to the floor without resistance.
The drone opened its jaws and blasted flames at the Seeker's head.
Ratchet ducked, flattening himself on the floor, arms covering the back of his head. The heat blistered his armor, and he could hear delicate medical equipment shatter from the high temperatures. The Seeker shrieked in pain; Ratchet heard laser fire, followed by a loud crash. The room suddenly collapsed on top of him.
The CMO tried to push the rubble away, but was forced back down as the drone charged over it, chasing the Seeker as he transformed and took to the skies. "Silverbolt!" Ratchet called.
A few moments later, he heard the Seeker shuffling nearby, then the rubble shifted as Silverbolt started to dig him out. "Are you okay?"
Ratchet stood quickly. "I'm fine." He glanced around the medbay--ruined. "Find Wheeljack." Through the hole in the ceiling, he saw the rapidly-disappearing light from the giant Seeker's engines. The drone was running back and forth in the field behind the wall, roaring in frustration.
The rest of Silverbolt's wing was flying over, the Seekers landing more or less gracefully in the destroyed medbay. They clicked and hummed worriedly as they ran to Silverbolt's side. Ratchet scowled. 'I'm just fine, thanks for asking.' Silverbolt was digging where he had last seen Wheeljack; only two of his wingmates got the hint and started helping. The smallest one bounced around them, chattering uselessly. Fireflight simply stood off a bit, appearing lost.
"Hurry!" Ratchet said. "Wheeljack's harder to kill than a cyberhawk but that Seeker made a good attempt of it." And now that most of his tools were likely broken or destroyed, his options for helping anyone recover from such injuries and energon loss would be severely limited at best.
Something was climbing through the hole in the medbay, making his way towards them. Ratchet looked up, and jumped back, startled, as the drone, in his hulking bipedal mode, stomped past.
Silverbolt looked like a panicked Seeklet when he realized the drone was coming for him. He stumbled backwards; his wingmates immediately picked up on his fright and froze in place.
All was silent as the drone stared at Silverbolt with its brilliant red optics. Ratchet was positive he could hear echoes of Don't hurt him, not really in his mind. And then, a most definite sensation of the drone thinking Slag off!
But that was nonsense. War drones didn't have such thoughts.
The drone turned away from Silverbolt, looking down at where Wheeljack was buried under the debris, its focus now on retrieving the engineer. It was only a matter of moments before Ratchet could see the white of the mech's armor...and he wasn't moving.
*****
There had been a battle here at the space bridge.
There had been many battles many places on Cybertron, he was beginning to realize. The war had only just begin when they had been stationed on that Zel Samine moon. Apparently, he had been stuck in that ice for quite a while.
He had decided to walk the last stretch, and he stepped slowly over the cracked ground outside of the space bridge complex. The surface was marked with burns from weapon blasts, sharp lines from bladed weapons, pits from explosives...in some places, the wall of the compound had collapsed, though he could just make out tiny repair drones hard at work on those sections.
And Starscream had been so intent on staying out of it all, his concern only for the safety of his wingmates.
His mouth twitched. Much had changed indeed since he had been stuck in the ice.
He felt them in his spark long before he saw them.
They streaked by overhead, two Seekers in their tetrajet modes in a reconnaissance formation. He tracked their progress as they shot past him and turned back to circle overhead.
He had last seen them as he was leaving the moon base for his final scouting mission.
Finally, they dropped from the sky, transforming to land heavily on their feet a good distance in front of him. For a long while, they simply looked at one another.
"So..." Skywarp started.
"Where's Starscream?" he cut in.
"Hello to you, too," the purple Seeker muttered.
"Welcome back to Cybertron," Thundercracker said. "Skyfire."
In celebration, let's have another chapter of LWA, now with 50% moar Grimlock.
Title: Living With Autobots, Part 14
Rating: PG13
Characters: Sideswipe, Sunstreaker, Ratchet, Wheeljack, Silverbolt, others
Summary: How many times does Ratchet need to repeat it? No Seeker-killing drones in the same room as Seekers!
Author's Notes: As always, this can be found on ff.net.
Drone-watching was every bit as exciting as Sideswipe had anticipated it would be. For two cycles now, the thing had stalked around on all fours, carefully investigating the base and its hallways and doorways, though it was oddly disinterested in the Autobots themselves. And Sideswipe was stuck following it. He stayed a few paces behind, waiting, just waiting for it to do something interesting. Sunstreaker was even less enthusiastic about the situation and trailed further behind. He tried to slip away every time he got the chance, but it always seemed like Ironhide or Optimus was right there to send him back to his duties.
The red twin still could not figure out why the drone needed their company to begin with. It was just a drone. A very big war drone, sure. Big and boring. A basic companion drone would respond to someone following it. This thing seemed to be pointedly ignoring Sideswipe. And Sideswipe hated being ignored.
He growled to himself. "What the frag is this thing good for? Optimus won't send it to fight 'Cons yet, it's no good for a guard drone, we can't even spar with it in the training rooms. Waste of time." He flexed his claws. "Should just put this thing back in its bay."
The drone actually glanced back at Sideswipe then, only briefly. Then it suddenly folded its legs beneath itself, settling down in the middle of the hallway and assuming a watch pose. Its optics focused on some distant, nonexistant point.
"You've got to be fragging joking." Sideswipe walked up to the drone's shoulder; the beast didn't react. He pondered for a moment that perhaps the drone was mocking him, as if saying 'You want a guard drone? I will be a guard drone right now.' But it was just a war drone. War drones did not have the mental capacity to mock.
Sunstreaker seemed to pick up on that line of thought. "Wheeljack made it," he commented. "You thought it'd work correctly?"
"I would have hoped it wouldn't sit down in the middle of the damn hallway!" Sideswipe gave it a solid kick in its shoulder, not noticing that his talons didn't leave the slightest mark in the beast's dark armor. "Why'd we get stuck with this piece of slag? It's Wheeljack's drone, he should be watching it!" A few mechs carefully walked past them, scooting as closely against the wall as they could, trying to avoid notice by the gladiator who was swearing at the giant drone and giving it another useless kick.
Sunstreaker was leaning back against the wall, arms crossed over his chest. "Just wait until Wheeljack hears you've been abusing his pet."
His brother growled again. "I'd rather deal with him than sit around doing nothing with a war drone that won't fight!" Sideswipe looked up from his latest tired to find the drone looking him straight-on, red optics boring into him. The mech huffed. "Finally, it knows I exist."
The drone huffed back, sending a blast of superheated air from its nasal vents that hit Sideswipe like a wall of fire. Sideswipe lifted his arms to shield his face from the heat, and the drone's head waved on its long neck as it tracked his motions.
"Slagging thing just tried to melt my face off!" The gladiator glared at the expressionless face before him. The drone stared back. Before he even realized what he was doing, Sideswipe had slammed his fist into the drone's face, the sharp ring of metal on metal echoing down the hallway.
"Did you really just do that?" Sunstreaker said.
Sideswipe's fist was still clenched. "How else will it learn?" he snarled.
The drone tilted its head downward slightly, not in pain or fear, but the way a hunting cyberhawk would as it stalked its prey.
"Don't break it," the gold mech taunted his brother.
Any thoughts of having to face an angry engineer were far from Sideswipe's mind as he swung at the beast's head again. Sparks flew as his fist connected with the drone's long muzzle. The drone itself remained unfazed by the assault. Only by the third strike did it seem to think that perhaps it should do something about the situation.
The creature stood, turning to face Sideswipe.
Sideswipe smiled, that dark smile that brought such fear to others. His primal programming was pawing at the edges of his mind, begging to be unleashed. Time to make his day a little more interesting.
-For Primus' sake. So bored you're picking fights with drones now?-
-Slag off.-
-In the hallway.-
-I said slag off!- Sideswipe lunged at the drone. He wasn't going to hurt it. Not really. Nothing that Wheeljack or Ratchet couldn't fix.
He was not expecting the drone to raise one of its massive, clawed forepaws and easily catch him. His vision spun as the creature drove him backwards, slamming him into the wall, pinning him tightly against it. When he could see again, that dark, twisted face was close to his, and he could almost feel the drone's thoughts echoing in his mind. Won't hurt it. Not really.
He heard Sunstreaker running for them. Without looking away, the drone lashed its tail at the gold twin, striking his legs. Sunstreaker was effortlessly knocked aside.
Again, those odds thoughts in Sideswipe's mind, as if the drone was giving a firm Slag off! to Sunstreaker.
Sideswipe felt the fire-heat again, so hot that it warped the air around the drone's muzzle. 'Wheeljack gave this thing a fragging flamethrower,' was all he had time to think before the world suddenly stood still.
A processor-numbing Seeker shriek pierced the base, the walls doing little to stop it. Sunstreaker staggered as he tried to rise from the floor. Sideswipe could only shudder under the drone's strong claws.
The drone's muzzle went cold as its optics pinned. Then it quickly swung its body around to face the source of the noise, unceremoniously dropping Sideswipe. The beast arched its neck, spines splaying out, opened its long-toothed jaws wide, and replied with its own chilling and mind-scrambling roar.
It was unlike anything Sideswipe had ever heard, and he could only curled up on the floor and attempt to cover his audials. But the sound blasted straight through him, piercing his bosy with what he was sure was the noise of Unicron's own Pit-spawn.
He felt someone kick him. "Get up!" Sunstreaker snarled.
Sideswipe managed to open his optics to an oddly drone-free hallway. "What...?"
Sunstreaker was already running down the hallway. Pulling himself to his feet, still shaken by the drone's roar, Sideswipe followed as quickly as he could.
"Happy now?" Sunstreaker didn't even look back at him.
"I had nothing to do with that!"
"Like hell you--whoa!" The rounded a corner to find the drone in front of the medbay, tearing at the doors, snarling and shrieking.
-I've subdued the Seeker!- came Ratchet's voice from the nearby comm panels. -Get that thing away from the medbay!-
The drone's claws had punched through the doors, and it was working on forcing its muzzle into the hole.
Sideswipe took a running leap at the beast, only to be knocked aside by a well-aimed kick from its hind leg, a much harder blow than what it had used to keep Sunstreaker away earlier. The red mech hit the floor quite a ways down the hall, wincing from the new deep puncture wounds he now sported across his chest.
Sunstreaker activated the cannon on his arm and landed a well-aimed shot on the drone's neck. The drone whirled around with astounding speed, its long neck crossing the distance to the gladiator, allowing it to clamp its toothy jaws around the cannon. It swung its head, dragging Sunstreaker along. The mech hooked the claws of his free hand in the drone's optical socket as he kicked at the spiny-armored neck.
The red twin was up again, running for the beast. He managed to evade the claws that swiped at him and joined his brother in trying to pry the iron jaws from his arm.
He was sent staggering aside by a particularly hard punch to the side of his head.
"Stop!"
My brother...! His mind now locked into freeing his brother, Sideswipe lunged again, only to be repelled once more in the same violent fashion.
"Stop!"
Sideswipe heard other mechs hurrying to their position, and he glanced back briefly to see who he had for reinforcements. Ironhide, of course, cannons ready. Jazz and Cliffjumper, and Optimus behind them. More were arriving, but he could waste no more time watching them. He powered up the guns in his forearms.
His brother was still fruitlessly struggling to free himself. But there, grabbing the giant drone by its head, was Wheeljack. The engineer was frantically trying to stop Sunstreaker from harming his creation, while trying to stop said creation from harming Sunstreaker further.
He had a shot. Sideswipe raised his arms and fired.
The bolts struck the drone just as it was raising its neck, exposing a single tiny opening in its armor. The drone grunted at the impact, shuddering, and a tiny trickle of blue energon crept out from beneath its armor.
Then Wheeljack was looking at him. No, not looking. Glaring. That same feral glare Sunstreaker got when caught in the throes of his basic programming. It was so strange seeing that on another mech, even if he should have expected--
He didn't even notice the engineer activate one of his own guns.
The shot hit Sideswipe square in his chest. The shock of it sent him backwards into the gathered crowd. He felt himself collide with someone, and they both fell to the floor. Sideswipe could almost hear his armor sizzling; he could not tell if more than the armor had been damaged, but he was alive, and that was all that mattered. He could still hear the drone's growling and Sunstreaker's howls of rage, and...
"Grimlock! Let him go!"
Sideswipe propped himself up just in time to see the drone open its jaws and drop Sunstreaker. The gold gladiator's left arm was mangled, freely dripping energon and lubricants onto the floor. Sideswipe could feel his brother's rage and pain in his own spark, and he struggled to his feet, ready to fight. Sunstreaker himself only took a few steps back from the beast as Wheeljack continued speaking to it. The drone was sitting now, focused on the white mech. Then it suddenly, mechanically stood, paced to Wheeljack's lab down the hallway, and disappeared into it.
Wheeljack was on Sunstreaker in a second. "What did you do to him?" he shouted. Sunstreaker responded by using his good arm to punch the engineer in the face. Sideswipe was by his brother's side as Wheeljack came back at them, resonators glowing ruby despite him not speaking. Sideswipe immediately aimed his still-hot guns at the white mech.
Prowl suddenly appeared between them, arms held out as if he alone could keep the three larger mechs apart; Sideswipe very nearly shot the lieutenant by accident.
The small distraction was enough for Inferno to get between Prowl and the Twins, a much more solid presence they could not ignore. Ironhide was able to grab Wheeljack and quite literally knock some sense back into him.
When they had been sufficiently calmed, Prowl gave each of them an icy glare. "My office. Now."
*****
The five Seekers had been huddled on the highest roof of the base for nearly a cycle now. The frozen Seeker's unexpected scream, followed by the roar of the genocide drone, had sent the entire wing scrambling for safety. Even Silverbolt, terrified of heights as he was, had made for the highest point he could find without hesitation.
Even if that highest point was a platform of monitoring equipment that was not intended to bear the weight of five Seekers. Optimus Prime's security officer had screamed quite a bit over his comm about his crushed and now useless equipment. Silverbolt had eventually shut his comm off.
It had been eerily silent on the base ever since, but the Seekers did not move. Fireflight was still shaking with fear, and his wingmates, themselves still overcome with fear, were little able to comfort him. And now that Silverbolt had his wits about him once more, he could see that they were indeed rather high up, and it was a long way down.
A very long way down, and what waited for them down there? Judging by how loud that scream had been, either the new Seeker had Thundercracker's abilities, or was a big Seeker indeed. Bigger than Silverbolt himself.
And that drone? It had definitely reacted to that Seeker. Just as it was meant to.
Perhaps that was why the new Seeker had remained so silent?
Silverbolt shivered. His wingmates, feeling the shaking, began to whine and whimper once more. "Quiet," he said to them. "We're fine up here."
"So exposed..." Air Raid murmured.
-Silverbolt?-
The wing leader tilted his head at the sudden comm. -Optimus Prime?-
-You can bring your wing down.-
Silverbolt glanced at his team, still huddled as close as they could get to one another on the platform. -There's a giant Seeker and a giant Seeker-killing drone down there. I don't think so.-
There was a brief pause from the Prime, as if he was speaking with someone in his presence. -The Seeker is restrained, and the drone is currently offline.-
-We've heard similar empty assurances from Decepticons before. Forgive me for not trusting your word.-
He could almost hear Optimus sigh. -Your wing will not be harmed. And we need to repair the platform you're on.-
Silverbolt looked at the crushed panels beneath his feet.
-Are you familiar with Starscream?-
The Seeker furrowed his brow ridges at the odd question. -Not personally.- Starscream's wingmates, on the other hand...
Again, silence as Optimus spoke to someone. -Ratchet thinks having another Seeker present the next time our guest wakes would help avoid a repeat of this situation.-
-Doubtful.- If this new Seeker was somehow connected to Starscream, it would have to get used to disappointment while in Autobot hands.
Skydive was looking curiously at him. "What's going on?"
"The Prime wants me to talk with the giant Seeker," Silverbolt answered. Skydive frowned slightly.
"We are a giant-er Seeker!" Slingshot said, not for the first time.
"Drone is still there," Air Raid put in.
"We'll stomp it!" Slingshot flared is wing panels and tapped his foot on the broken platform for effect. The platform creaked ominously.
"Not indoors," Fireflight suddenly said. He looked thoughtful; whether his statement was in reference to the current conversation or whatever else was going on in his mind, Silverbolt couldn't tell.
"Stomp! Stomp!"
Air Raid was starting to bob his head along with Slingshot's chanting. Skydive was admirably trying to ignore the both of them.
Silverbolt growled softly to himself. -Fine,- he commed to Optimus. -What could possibly be worse than what happened last time?-
*****
It had been sheer luck that Ratchet had been able to drag himself close enough to the Seeker to take him offline while still suffering the effects of such a close-range and loud Seeker shriek. He remembered being only vaguely aware that the drone was breaking into the medbay, and maybe he said something through the comm panel too? Then he had just sat on the floor of the medbay for a good quarter-cycle before he had been clear-minded enough to respond to First Aid, who had been doing his best to rouse the stunned CMO.
And now there was still the matter of what to do with a giant offline Seeker.
This Seeker had clearly been close to Starscream. This was intelligence they could not afford to miss. They could directly connect to his processor, yes, but with their current equipment they were only able to see coding, not direct memories. And there was nobody on base who was talented at reading such coding anyway; it had been a great deal of luck that Ratchet had been able to patch up as much of Red Alert's mind as he had.
So they must simply wake him up. And just perhaps, having another Seeker nearby this time would comfort this newcomer enough to not scream again.
Silverbolt was clearly not convinced by the idea, but he nonetheless stood in the medbay, on the other side of the Seeker from Ratchet, far enough away that he would hopefully not offend the Seeker's sense of personal space.
Before he could convince himself otherwise, Ratchet reached around the back of the Seeker's large helm, and woke him.
The blue optics flickered online, then shifted to look at Ratchet. The Seeker's face crinkled into an expression of disgust, sharp teeth bared. "What are you doing, you slag-bastard? Where is Starscream? Let me up!"
"If you don't scream again, we may be able to negotiate something," Ratchet said calmly.
The Seeker hissed and snarled. "You have me trapped. I see little reason to play nice!" He pulled against the restraints. "Slagging ground-pounders think you can keep me down? I will shriek until you processors can't unscramble any more!"
"I have no problem taking away your voice," the CMO said.
"You wouldn't!" The Seeker rumbled deep in his chest.
"If it would allow us to talk, I would! We only wish to speak--"
"I do not wish to speak! Let me go!" This was followed by more hissing and growling.
An echoing growl was heard from the lab next door, then several loud thumps as a large drone attempted to break through the wall separating the rooms.
Silverbolt flinched with each thump. He was between that wall and the giant Seeker.
"Primus, just shut up!" Ratchet said. "You're upsetting the drone again."
"I fear no drone!" The Seeker snarled, tugging harder at the bindings so that the table creaked. "And I will have vengeance on you for this insult to my freedom!"
Ratchet sighed, exasperated. He was about to comm Optimus, tell him exactly how useful this endeavour was proving, when the medbay doors, still bearing the damage from the drone, opened as far as they could. Wheeljack came storming in.
The engineer was looking straight at Ratchet. "I thought you said you wouldn't--"
The Seeker took notice of him and growled. "Sending in one of those to deal with Seeker prisoners now?" he hissed. "This is what the great Prime deems acceptable?"
Wheeljack blinked, taken aback by the Seeker's reaction. Then his wing-blades swiveled up stiffly. "'One of those'?" he snarled as he stalked closer.
"Wheeljack," Ratchet tried to caution.
"What the frag do you mean, 'one of those'?"
"Wheeljack!" The engineer was close, too close to the Seeker...
The Seeker's wing panels shifted slightly beneath him, their movement restricted by the table. "They still use you 4-Betas for Seeker-baiting, huh? Going to take me apart while I can't fight back?"
Ratchet could almost feel the waves of cold rage that rolled off of Wheeljack. "You want a 4-Beta Seeker-baiting?" The engineer's voice was low, reminding the medic far too much of Sunstreaker. "I will give you a fragging Seeker-baiting."
'Only one way to get this back under control.' The CMO reached back, grabbing the nearest tool on the table beside him, and raised his arm to chuck it at Wheeljack's head.
There was an ominous snap. Ratchet only had a brief moment to register that the binding had broken from the Seeker's nearest hand. Then the Seeker used that hand to smack the medic away. Ratchet was knocked onto his back; he got to his feet in time to see the Seeker break one of his feet free and swing it around. Silverbolt jumped back slightly, though he was much too far away for those massive foot-claws to reach him.
Ratchet was powerless to stop the Seeker as the binding holding his other hand shattered, allowing him to reach out and pin Wheeljack against the wall. His long claws pierced the mech's torso right through to the wall, effectively holding him in place.
The CMO threw the tool he held at the Seeker. It bounced off his thick helm; the Seeker didn't seem to notice it.
A loud stomping noise came from the hallway. The medbay doors ground open again to reveal the drone, smoke rising from its mouth. It quickly scanned the scene before it, red optics resting briefly on Silverbolt before moving to Ratchet, then to Wheeljack and the giant Seeker, who was working on freeing his other foot. The drone hesitated. Ratchet could almost see the drone's thoughts as it tried to puzzle out how to handle the situation.
He found himself hoping it would figure it out soon. There was not much Ratchet himself could do now. Silverbolt was frozen with fear, some help he was. Wheeljack was gasping in pain; Ratchet could hear his armor creak under the pressure of the giant Seeker's hand.
The drone snarled, raising its spines. The Seeker looked at it, but was not alarmed. "Anyone makes a move and I kill him." Now completely free, the Seeker stood, slightly flexing the claws that held Wheeljack. The engineer choked.
"Grimlock..." the white mech gasped. Ratchet winced at the sound.
"Where is Starscream?" the giant Seeker demanded.
"With the Decepticons," Ratchet answered quickly.
"Where?"
"I don't know, at their base?" The medic was busy scanning Wheeljack. One of the Seeker's claws had pierced a major energon line, and the only thing keeping the energon in was the claw itself. If the Seeker removed his claw, the mech would bleed out quickly indeed, and if the Seeker kept smacking Ratchet away as he had... He send out an emergency signal on his comm line. If he could just keep the Seeker occupied for a breem more, they could get him under control again, and he might have a chance to get to Wheeljack before more damage was done.
The drone was fuming, looking from the giant Seeker to Wheeljack and back again. Heat was seeping out from under its neck armor now, as it continued to consider its options.
"Thundercracker and Skywarp were at the space bridge the last time I saw them," Silverbolt said softly.
Ratchet shot him a dark look. 'Damn you, Seeker. Lead him right to what he wants, why don't you?'
The giant Seeker turned his head to look at Silverbolt, as if noticing him for the first time. "Our wingmates made it back?" he said, more to himself than Silverbolt.
The medic's energon seemed to run cold. 'Oh Primus. He's Starscream's wingmate?' There was good intelligence to be had here indeed. This was the best chance for bargaining they might ever get.
Or Starscream might not be in the mood for bargaining, and just flat-out destroy them in revenge.
Unless the giant Seeker escaped first. He suddenly released his hold on Wheeljack. The engineer fell to the floor without resistance.
The drone opened its jaws and blasted flames at the Seeker's head.
Ratchet ducked, flattening himself on the floor, arms covering the back of his head. The heat blistered his armor, and he could hear delicate medical equipment shatter from the high temperatures. The Seeker shrieked in pain; Ratchet heard laser fire, followed by a loud crash. The room suddenly collapsed on top of him.
The CMO tried to push the rubble away, but was forced back down as the drone charged over it, chasing the Seeker as he transformed and took to the skies. "Silverbolt!" Ratchet called.
A few moments later, he heard the Seeker shuffling nearby, then the rubble shifted as Silverbolt started to dig him out. "Are you okay?"
Ratchet stood quickly. "I'm fine." He glanced around the medbay--ruined. "Find Wheeljack." Through the hole in the ceiling, he saw the rapidly-disappearing light from the giant Seeker's engines. The drone was running back and forth in the field behind the wall, roaring in frustration.
The rest of Silverbolt's wing was flying over, the Seekers landing more or less gracefully in the destroyed medbay. They clicked and hummed worriedly as they ran to Silverbolt's side. Ratchet scowled. 'I'm just fine, thanks for asking.' Silverbolt was digging where he had last seen Wheeljack; only two of his wingmates got the hint and started helping. The smallest one bounced around them, chattering uselessly. Fireflight simply stood off a bit, appearing lost.
"Hurry!" Ratchet said. "Wheeljack's harder to kill than a cyberhawk but that Seeker made a good attempt of it." And now that most of his tools were likely broken or destroyed, his options for helping anyone recover from such injuries and energon loss would be severely limited at best.
Something was climbing through the hole in the medbay, making his way towards them. Ratchet looked up, and jumped back, startled, as the drone, in his hulking bipedal mode, stomped past.
Silverbolt looked like a panicked Seeklet when he realized the drone was coming for him. He stumbled backwards; his wingmates immediately picked up on his fright and froze in place.
All was silent as the drone stared at Silverbolt with its brilliant red optics. Ratchet was positive he could hear echoes of Don't hurt him, not really in his mind. And then, a most definite sensation of the drone thinking Slag off!
But that was nonsense. War drones didn't have such thoughts.
The drone turned away from Silverbolt, looking down at where Wheeljack was buried under the debris, its focus now on retrieving the engineer. It was only a matter of moments before Ratchet could see the white of the mech's armor...and he wasn't moving.
*****
There had been a battle here at the space bridge.
There had been many battles many places on Cybertron, he was beginning to realize. The war had only just begin when they had been stationed on that Zel Samine moon. Apparently, he had been stuck in that ice for quite a while.
He had decided to walk the last stretch, and he stepped slowly over the cracked ground outside of the space bridge complex. The surface was marked with burns from weapon blasts, sharp lines from bladed weapons, pits from explosives...in some places, the wall of the compound had collapsed, though he could just make out tiny repair drones hard at work on those sections.
And Starscream had been so intent on staying out of it all, his concern only for the safety of his wingmates.
His mouth twitched. Much had changed indeed since he had been stuck in the ice.
He felt them in his spark long before he saw them.
They streaked by overhead, two Seekers in their tetrajet modes in a reconnaissance formation. He tracked their progress as they shot past him and turned back to circle overhead.
He had last seen them as he was leaving the moon base for his final scouting mission.
Finally, they dropped from the sky, transforming to land heavily on their feet a good distance in front of him. For a long while, they simply looked at one another.
"So..." Skywarp started.
"Where's Starscream?" he cut in.
"Hello to you, too," the purple Seeker muttered.
"Welcome back to Cybertron," Thundercracker said. "Skyfire."